Jeff Guy has been teaching the intricacies of pole vault for
longer than some of his pupils have been on the same earth they use
a 15-foot pole to leap from.

He calls it a progress sport.

No one starts out jumping 10 feet just as no one's first snow
skiing hill is the watch-out-for-that-first-step black diamond run
at a resort. They start out on the bunny hill and make their way up
to the most treacherous challenge.

So when Desert Vista freshmen find themselves in the pole vaulting
group, often being brought there by a curious friend, for the first
time they are nowhere near the pole or mat.

"We have to get them comfortable with the takeoff and landing when
they first get started," Guy said. "It is a very unique sport and
it takes some time to get motions down."

It isn't like sprint events, obviously, where an athlete is either
fast or not. A coach can tweak form, but either the speed is there
or not.

With field events like pole vaulting the progress by the time a
freshman becomes an upperclassman is enough to make a coach shake
his head in pride.

"When they come in as freshmen they have no idea what they are
capable of because they almost always have never done it before,"
Guy said. "Each year they get to a new level and it is a great
thing to watch. I've learned you never put a limit on an athlete.
Our goal is not necessarily to get better than anyone else but to
better themselves. If you get better at the state meet but finish
last it is still a great meet."

A year after setting a national record by getting five girls to
reach 12 feet, 1 inch or higher, the Thunder has some of the best
vaulters in the state.

On the girls side, seniors Merritt Ten Hope and Kylie Harmon are
ranked fourth and fifth in Division I with season bests of 11 feet
and 10 feet, 7 inches, respectively.

The boys have a state title contender in junior Aidan Foster, who
has a Division I best of 15-1 to become the 96th athlete in Arizona
history to break 15 feet.

Each has their own story since those initial freshmen campaigned
when they were all starting out on the proverbial bunny hill.

Foster is a bit shy and introverted and Guy has been working with
him to be more confident. It is starting to come now that he
cleared 15 feet. He is starting to understand that he might
actually be pretty good at this pole vaulting stuff after winning
the Tempe City Meet with the 15-1 effort.

"I smiled and it felt good, but I didn't really think much about it
after that," said Foster, who cleared 13 feet as a sophomore. "I
guess I am doing pretty good."

Guy said that the 15-foot mark as a junior is a big step in getting
noticed by colleges and should set Foster up for a big state meet
and senior season.

"Getting there as a junior is what everyone shoots for," he said.
"He is beginning to believe in himself and once he gets the
confidence he can really do something. Before now, he was just kind
of getting by on talent but once he gets his mind right he can
really take off."

Hope has gone from a season best of 10-3 last season to 11-0 this
year when she finished second at the Casa Grande Invitational on
April 1.

But it almost came with an asterisk.

She cleared 10-9 and then Hope thought she cleared 11-0. Hope felt
great about it only to find out the officials never raised the bar
from 10-9. So she had to quickly refocus and go after the real 11-0
mark.

"I was frustrated at first because it was something I had been
working really hard for," she said. "Then it was taken away and I
had to do it again. Once I got it officially it was a big
relief."

Hope, who plans on attending University of Redlands, a Division III
program in Southern California, hasn't been able reach that height
again but Guy said she is a perfect example of what pole vaulting
is about.

"She has shown steady progress," he said. "She has developed into a
team leader and worked extremely hard to get to her level."

Harmon's season has been a source of frustration after being one of
the five Thunder athletes to clear 12-1 last season. The other four
all graduated and received a scholarship to college.

She came into the season with the same type of expectations, but it
hasn't materialized just yet as her best effort has been 10-7.
Early in the season she wouldn't even attempt a vault as she just
ran through to the mat instead of hitting her spot and taking off
with the pole.

"It was definitely overwhelming at the beginning of the season
thinking about college," said Hope, who plans on going to
University of California-San Diego or UCLA. "It was kind of a
whirlwind, but I had a talk with my parents and realized that I was
getting stressed out and putting too much pressure on myself. I am
letting that all go and just having fun now."

The new approach allowed her to reach 10-7 to win the Tempe
All-City Meet.

"It's starting to come for her," Guy said. "She is persevering
through a challenging senior year but is slowly making progress.
You can't do something well until you can believe you can do it and
Kylie is just now getting back into that state of mind."

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